Matthew 26:2

Is betrayed (παραδίδοται) The present tense expresses here something which, though future, is as good as present, because already determined, or because it must ensue in virtue of an unalterable law. Thus the passover is (γίνεται): it must come round at the fixed season. The Son of Man is betrayed according to the divine decree. Compare Matthew 26:24.

2. the passover ] (1) The word is interesting in its ( a ) Hebrew, ( b ) Greek, and ( c ) English form. ( a ) The Hebrew pesach is from a root meaning “to leap over,” and, figuratively, to “save,” “shew mercy.” ( b ) The Greek pascha represents the Aramaic or later Hebrew form of the same word, but the affinity in sound and letters to the Greek word paschein , “to suffer,” led to a connection in thought between the Passover and the Passion of our Lord: indeed, some of the early Christian writers state the connection as if it were the true etymology. ( c ) Tyndale has the merit of introducing into English the word “passover,” which keeps up the play on the words in the original Hebrew ( Exodus 12:11 ; Exodus 12:13 ). Before Tyndale the word “ phase ” (for pascha ) was transferred from the Vulgate, with an explanation: “For it is phase, that is, the passyng of the Lord” (Wyclif). the feast of the passover commemorated the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage. The ordinances of the first Passover are narrated Exodus 12:1-14 , but some of those were modified in later times. It was no longer necessary to choose the lamb on the 10th of Nisan. The blood was sprinkled on the altar, not on the door-post, those who partook of the paschal meal no longer “stood with loins girded, with shoes on their feet, with staff in hand,” but reclined on couches, as at an ordinary meal; it was no longer unlawful to leave the house before morning ( Exodus 12:22 ).

The regular celebration of the Passover was part of the religious revival after the return from Captivity. During the kingly period only three celebrations of the Passover are recorded; in the reigns of Solomon, of Hezekiah and of Josiah. For the relation of the Last Supper to the Passover and for further notes on the paschal observance, see below. The date of this Passover was probably April 3 (old style), a. d. 33 (Mr J. W. Bosanquet in Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch. vol. iv. 2). See note, ch. Matthew 2:1 . is betrayed ] either (1) the present for the future, denoting greater certainty or (2) the full relative present “is now being betrayed;” the treacherous scheme of Judas is already afoot.

Matthew 26:2 . τὸ πάσχα , used both of festival, as here, and of victim, as in Matthew 26:17 . The Passover began on the 14th of Nisan; it is referred to here for the first time in our Gospel.— παραδίδοται , present, either used to describe vividly a future event (Burton, M. T., § 15) or to associate it with the feast day as a fixture ( γίνεται ), “calendar day and divine decree of death fixed beyond recall” (Holtz., H. C.), or to imply that the betrayal process is already begun in the thought of the false-hearted disciple.

CHAPTER 26 Mt 26:1-16. Christ's Final Announcement of his Death, as Now within Two Days, and the Simultaneous Conspiracy of the Jewish Authorities to Compass It—The Anointing at Bethany—Judas Agrees with the Chief Priests to Betray His Lord. ( = Mr 14:1-11; Lu 22:1-6; Joh 12:1-11). For the exposition, see on [1361]Mr 14:1-11.

(2) After two days is the feast of the passover. —Assuming (as the facts of the case lead us to assume, but see Notes on John 13:1 ) the Last Supper to have coincided with the actual Paschal Feast, the point of time at which the words were spoken would either be some time on what we should call the Tuesday evening of the Passion week, or, following the Jewish mode of speech which found three days in the interval between our Lord’s entombment and resurrection, on the morning or afternoon of Wednesday.

Matthew 26:2 . Μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας , after two days ) Our Lord foretold His death by various measures of time.[1108] καὶ , and ) sc. and therefore, as this time is suitable for the transaction.— παραδίδοται , is betrayed ) The present tense. Our Lord was preparing Himself entirely[1109] for suffering, and His enemies were labouring to effect the same object: see Mark 14:1 . [1108] Just as there is said to be a space of three days from the evening of Friday to the dawn of light on the Lord’s day: so here a space of two days is said to intervene between Wednesday and Thursday, which latter was the day of the Passover and of unleavened bread , Mark 8:31 ; Mark 14:11-12 . So among the Romans sometimes the expression ante diem Secundum Kalendas means the same as pridie Kal . Matthew narrates, in an abbreviated and condensed form, the delivering up of Jesus to be crucified . His being delivered up was accomplished step by step: through the instrumentality of Judas on the night of Thursday; through Caiaphas on the following morning; and through Pilate, after about two hours having intervened. Thus we come from the betrayal to the crucifixion.— Harm. , p. 487. The day (Thursday) which intervened between this speech of our Lord and the crucifixion is mentioned in Matthew 26:17 .—V. g. [1109] In the original, “Totum se comparabat Jesus ad patiendum.—(I. B.)

Ver. 1,2. Mark saith, Mark 14:1 . After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread. Luke saith, Luke 22:1 , Now the feast of unleavened drew nigh, which is called the passover. For our better understanding of what the evangelists say here, and in the following part of this history, we will consider the law of the passover in its institution, which we find in Exodus 12:3 &c., Leviticus 23:4 &c., Numbers 28:16 &c., In Exodus 12:1-51 , we find its first institution, and the occasion of it. Upon the tenth day of the month Nisan, they were to take up a lamb for every household; or if the household were too small, they might take in their neighbours. This lamb was to be a male without blemish, and to be kept up to the fourteenth day; then to be killed in the evening; or between the two evenings, that is, as is most probably judged, some time that day after the sun began after noon to decline, before the sun did set. The flesh of this lamb was that night to be eaten, neither raw, nor sodden, but roasted with fire, with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs: nothing was to remain till the morning; and if any did remain, it was to be burned. They were to eat it with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hands. They were to strike the blood of the lamb on the two first posts, and on the upper doorposts, of the houses where they did eat it.

Seven days they were to eat unleavened bread, beginning on the fourteenth day of the month at even, and ending the one and twentieth at even. This was to be to them for a memorial of their deliverance in Egypt upon God’s destroying the firstborn of the Egyptians and sparing them, and their deliverance and coming out of Egypt; and was to be an ordinance unto them for ever. This may be read at large, Exodus 12:3-20 . This also was a figure of the true Passover Jesus Christ, whom the apostle calleth our Passover, and the evangelist calls the Lamb of God. The law of the passover was again repeated, Leviticus 23:5-8 Numbers 28:16-25 . The first and last of the days of unleavened bread (as may be seen there) were to be days of an holy convocation. There were some differences between the observation of the first passover in Egypt and their after observations of it. At the passover in Egypt the blood was to be sprinkled on the doorposts; in following times the blood and the fat were to be sprinkled upon the altar: at the passover in Egypt every paschal society slew the passover in their own house; but afterwards they were all slain in the temple, and then carried to be roasted and eaten by the several societies.

After two days is - the feast of the Passover. See the notes at Matthew 12:1-8. The festival of the Passover was designed to preserve among the Jews the memory of their liberation from Egyptian servitude, and of the safety of their first-born in that night when the firstborn of the Egyptians perished, Exodus 12. The name "Passover" was given to the feast because the Lord "passed over" the houses of the Israelites without slaying their first-born, while the Egyptians were cut off, Exodus 12:13. It was celebrated seven days, namely, from the 15th to the 21st of the month Abib or Nisan (April), Exodus 12:15-20; Exodus 23:15. During all this period the people ate unleavened bread, and hence the festival was sometimes called the "feast of unleavened bread," Exodus 12:18; Leviticus 23:6. On the evening of the fourteenth day, all the leaven or yeast in the family was removed with great care, as it is to the present time - a circumstance to which the apostle alludes in 1 Corinthians 5:7. On the tenth day of the month the master of a family separated a lamb or a goat of a year old from the flock Exodus 12:1-6, which he killed on the 14th day before the altar, Deuteronomy 16:2, Deuteronomy 16:5-6. The lamb was commonly slain at about 3 o'clock p. m.. The blood of the paschal lamb was, in Egypt, sprinkled on the door-posts of the houses; afterward it was poured by the priests at the foot of the altar, Exodus 12:7.